Entering tonight’s series opener in Pittsburgh, part of the pre-game conversation focused on the Blue Jackets’ need to keep their heads above water in the first period.
Coaches often talk about “weathering the storm” in the first 10 minutes, especially when playing on the road. We’ve covered the Penguins’ home-ice dominance at PPG Paints Arena, which set the Blue Jackets up for a tall task in the first two games of this series. Tough, but not impossible.
To their credit, the Blue Jackets didn’t blink. As John Tortorella often implores them to do, they were on their toes and brought the game to the Penguins. In the realm of desirable starts, Columbus’ first 15 minutes was as good as Tortorella could have asked for, but an old bugagoo reared its head.
They could not, for the life of them, find the back of the net.
Even with anticipated starter Matt Murray scratched in favor of Marc-Andre Fleury, the Blue Jackets struggled to get another dangerous on the Pittsburgh net. They got shots, a few chances, and sustained time in the offensive zone, and played like they were devoid of nerves in the first period.
If they score, it’s probably a different story. Alas, they did not, and the Penguins re-grouped between periods and took control of the momentum after getting a second wind. The Blue Jackets out-shot the Penguins by a 16-3 margin in the first period, but Pittsburgh answered with 28 of the final 44 shots. Role reversal, indeed.
It happened in a flash, too: after some footwork artistry from Phil Kessel off the rush, Bryan Rust opened the scoring early in the second period (75 seconds in) on a stick-side wrist shot. Then it was Kessel scoring on the power play minutes later, and Nick Bonino added on to make it 3-0 through 40 minutes.
Life comes at you fast, eh? The Blue Jackets could have had a hard time remembering the first period, let alone what happened in it.
"I think they got that first one and put us on our heels a little bit,” said Brandon Dubinsky. “They got some more momentum with their second. We lost momentum and weren't able to get it back, but overall, not a bad effort for us."
It served as a harsh reminder of the fine line between success and failure in the Stanley Cup playoffs; a strong first period is just that – a good start – but their inability to build upon it allowed the Penguins an opportunity to kick the door down and put doubt in the Blue Jackets’ minds.
What frustrated the Blue Jackets in Game 1 is that, after their solid start, their game slipped and they got away from what they were doing well in the opening period. Something to remember for Game 2, perhaps?
“We’re going to learn from it,” Matt Calvert told FSO post-game. “You move on, turn the page, get to practice and get ready for Game 2. We can take a few more chances; we were a little tight in the second period. We’ve got to let our game go a little bit, create some offense and (get) in front of their goalie. We need more pucks and more bodies to the net and find some more goals.”
